Symphony No. 1, “Winter Daydreams” | LA Phil Symphony No. 1, “Winter Daydreams” Composed: 1866; 1874 Length: c. 45 minutes Orchestration: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals), and strings First Los Angeles Philharmonic performance: July 31, 1973, Yuri Ahronovitch conducting When Tchaikovsky entered the Moscow Conservatory as professor of harmony, with a diploma from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, he had two strikes against him: his own equivocating nature and his lack of emotional security. In March 1866 he began working diligently on his First Symphony, work which caused him much anguish for the remainder of that year. By May, the First Symphony agony was full upon him, as indicated by a letter to his brother Modest. “My nerves are again as upset as they could be.

This is for the following reasons: 1) my lack of success in composing the symphony; 2) Rubinstein and Tarnovsky who, noticing that I'm edgy, spend all day frightening me by the most varied means; 3) the ever-present thought that I shall soon die and won't even complete the symphony successfully.” All was not dismal during that month, however, for his Overture in F had been performed with some success in St. Petersburg. This lift to his spirits carried over to his work on the Symphony for, in mid-June, he reported that he had begun scoring it. Still, in August the work was not yet finished, but he showed it in its incomplete state to his former teachers, Anton Rubinstein and Nikolai Zaremba, from whom he received nothing but the harshest of criticism. Finally, in February 1868, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.

1 was performed in Moscow in its entirety, and the composer could report to his brother Anatoly, “My Symphony scored a great success, particularly the Adagio.” In 1874, when the work was about to be published (with the composer’s own titles for the first two movements), Tchaikovsky made several revisions, most of them minor. Considering this was the firstborn of his symphonies, the composer’s affection for it was undiminished through the years. In 1883, he wrote to Mme. von Meck regarding his symphonic babe, “Although it is in many ways very immature, yet fundamentally it has more substance and is better than many of my other more mature works.” In spite of this notably sentimental remark, there seems no question that the all but completely neglected First Symphony does not have quite the strength, conviction nor the substance of the last three symphonies. That said, it is also true that the work is genuine Tchaikovsky, not merely in embryo but fully formed, particularly in orchestration and thematic character. “Winter Daydreams” is programmatic in an atmospheric rather than in a precise, story-telling way.

The first movement has an invigorating sense of spaciousness that is enhanced by the opening flute and bassoon announcement of the main theme. This is surely Russian music, not with the earthiness of Mussorgsky or the fairytale imagery of Rimsky-Korsakov, but with a folk spirit that is not hidden by sturdy if unassuming compositional craft. In this first movement, as in the remainder of the Symphony, the Tchaikovskyan orchestral trademarks are clearly in evidence: the exploitation of woodwinds, the rushing, brilliant string passages, the antiphonal (call and response) procedures. The second movement, in which he used material from his Overture The Storm of 1864, is again folk-like, wistful rather than dramatic and, like so much of Tchaikovsky – early, middle, and late – balletic in character. Expectedly, the Scherzo, whose material is a reworking of the corresponding section of an early piano sonata, dances vibrantly and rustically if a bit self-consciously; at mid-point a waltz lilts pleasantly though not as memorably as some of the many later examples by Tchaikovsky.

For his finale, Tchaikovsky meditates a bit, then puts a zesty dance theme through extended orchestral choreography, some of it contrapuntal, some march-like, and finally heads for a grand climactic rush of stately, ceremonial grandeur. Orrin Howard annotated programs for more than 20 years while serving as the Philharmonic’s Director of Publications and Archives. He continues to contribute regularly to the program book. Symphony No. 1, “Winter Daydreams” | Hollywood Bowl Symphony No. 1, “Winter Daydreams” Composed: 1866; 1874 Length: c. 45 minutes Orchestration: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals), and strings First Los Angeles Philharmonic performance: July 31, 1973, Yuri Ahronovitch conducting When Tchaikovsky entered the Moscow Conservatory as professor of harmony, with a diploma from the St.

Petersburg Conservatory, he had two strikes against him: his own equivocating nature and his lack of emotional security. In March 1866 he began working diligently on his First Symphony, work which caused him much anguish for the remainder of that year. By May, the First Symphony agony was full upon him, as indicated by a letter to his brother Modest. “My nerves are again as upset as they could be. This is for the following reasons: 1) my lack of success in composing the symphony; 2) Rubinstein and Tarnovsky who, noticing that I'm edgy, spend all day frightening me by the most varied means; 3) the ever-present thought that I shall soon die and won't even complete the symphony successfully.” All was not dismal during that month, however, for his Overture in F had been performed with some success in St. Petersburg. This lift to his spirits carried over to his work on the Symphony for, in mid-June, he reported that he had begun scoring it.

Still, in August the work was not yet finished, but he showed it in its incomplete state to his former teachers, Anton Rubinstein and Nikolai Zaremba, from whom he received nothing but the harshest of criticism. Finally, in February 1868, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 was performed in Moscow in its entirety, and the composer could report to his brother Anatoly, “My Symphony scored a great success, particularly the Adagio.” In 1874, when the work was about to be published (with the composer’s own titles for the first two movements), Tchaikovsky made several revisions, most of them minor. Considering this was the firstborn of his symphonies, the composer’s affection for it was undiminished through the years. In 1883, he wrote to Mme.

von Meck regarding his symphonic babe, “Although it is in many ways very immature, yet fundamentally it has more substance and is better than many of my other more mature works.” In spite of this notably sentimental remark, there seems no question that the all but completely neglected First Symphony does not have quite the strength, conviction nor the substance of the last three symphonies. That said, it is also true that the work is genuine Tchaikovsky, not merely in embryo but fully formed, particularly in orchestration and thematic character. “Winter Daydreams” is programmatic in an atmospheric rather than in a precise, story-telling way. The first movement has an invigorating sense of spaciousness that is enhanced by the opening flute and bassoon announcement of the main theme. This is surely Russian music, not with the earthiness of Mussorgsky or the fairytale imagery of Rimsky-Korsakov, but with a folk spirit that is not hidden by sturdy if unassuming compositional craft.

In this first movement, as in the remainder of the Symphony, the Tchaikovskyan orchestral trademarks are clearly in evidence: the exploitation of woodwinds, the rushing, brilliant string passages, the antiphonal (call and response) procedures. The second movement, in which he used material from his Overture The Storm of 1864, is again folk-like, wistful rather than dramatic and, like so much of Tchaikovsky – early, middle, and late – balletic in character. Expectedly, the Scherzo, whose material is a reworking of the corresponding section of an early piano sonata, dances vibrantly and rustically if a bit self-consciously; at mid-point a waltz lilts pleasantly though not as memorably as some of the many later examples by Tchaikovsky. For his finale, Tchaikovsky meditates a bit, then puts a zesty dance theme through extended orchestral choreography, some of it contrapuntal, some march-like, and finally heads for a grand climactic rush of stately, ceremonial grandeur.

Orrin Howard annotated programs for more than 20 years while serving as the Philharmonic’s Director of Publications and Archives. He continues to contribute regularly to the program book. Symphony No. 1 - Tchaikovsky Research Symphony No. 1 Jump to: navigation , search Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13 ( TH 24 ; ČW 21), subtitled Winter Daydreams (Зимние грезы), was composed and orchestrated between March 1866 and February 1868, and revised in spring 1874. Contents 12 Notes and References Instrumentation The Symphony is scored for an orchestra composing piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in A, B-flat), 2 bassoons + 4 horns (in E-flat, F), 2 trumpets (in C, D), 3 trombones, tuba + timpani, cymbals, bass drum + violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, and double basses. Movements and Duration There are four movements: I.

Daydreams of a Winter Journey (Грезы зимнею дорогой). Allegro tranquillo (G minor, 723 bars) II. Land of Gloom, Land of Mist (Угрюмый край, туманный край). Adagio cantabile, ma non tanto (E-flat major, 168 bars) III. Scherzo (Скерцо). Allegro scherzando giocoso (C minor, 441 bars) IV. Finale (Финал). Andante lugubre (G minor)—Allegro moderato (G major, 610 bars) [1] . A complete performance lasts around 45 to 50 minutes. Composition Original Version (1866-68) Little is known about the early history of the First Symphony.

According to the composer's biography, work was begun on the Symphony in March 1866 [2] , and the first reference by Tchaikovsky himself to the Symphony appears in his letter to his brother Anatoly of 25 April/7 May 1866: "At eleven o'clock, I either give a lesson until one [o'clock], or tackle the symphony (which, by the way, is going sluggishly) ... I always return home by twelve [midnight]; write letters or the symphony, and read in bed for a long time... My nerves are extremely fraught again, for the following reasons: 1) my lack of success in composing the symphony; 2) Rubinstein and Tarnovsky ... spend all day trying to torment me... 3) being unable to shake off the thought that I might soon die without even managing to complete the symphony" [3] . In the summer of 1866, Tchaikovsky set off for a dacha near Peterhof , where he continued working on the Symphony.

Here in early/mid June he began the instrumentation of his new work, as referred to in his letter to Aleksandra Davydova on 7/19 June: "I've already started to orchestrate the symphony; my health is fine, except that recently I didn't sleep all night because I was so busy..." [4] . According to Modest Tchaikovsky the composer did not like to recall the summer that he spent in Peterhof : "the reason was his G-minor symphony, called by the title Winter Daydreams. No other work cost him such effort and suffering... Despite painstaking and arduous work, its composition was fraught with difficulty, and while pressing ahead with the symphony, Pyotr Ilyich's nerves became more and more frayed. As a result of this exceptionally hard work he began to suffer from insomnia, and the sleepless nights paralyzed his creative energies. At the end of July all this erupted into a terrible nervous attack, the like of which he never experienced again during his lifetime... The most distressing symptoms of this illness were dreadful hallucinations, which were so frightening that they resulted in a feeling of complete numbness in all his extremities".

The dread of these nervous attacks recurring was such that "all his life he abstained from working at night. After this symphony, not a single note from any of his compositions was written at night" [5] . The difficult time Tchaikovsky endured while working on the Symphony did not influence the composer's working methods. In 1875 Tchaikovsky wrote to Modest Tchaikovsky : "Do you really believe that anything worthwhile comes without toil and effort?... Remember back in 1866 how frayed my nerves became at Myatlev's dacha through smoking too much because of my symphony, which wouldn't come out—that's just the same. Even now when things are difficult I smoke vast quantities of cigarettes and confine myself to my room, before coming around to formulate a basic motif. On the other hand writing can sometimes be terribly easy; ideas simply fly around one after another... But when this isn't the case, one must still be able to impel oneself to work" [6] . According to Modest Tchaikovsky 's recollections, because of his ill-health "Pyotr Ilyich was unable to finish the symphony in its entirety during the summer.

Nevertheless, before returning to Moscow , he decided to show the symphony as it stood to A. G. Rubinstein and N. I. Zaremba , in the hope that it would be performed in one of the Russian Musical Society concerts in Saint Petersburg . But instead he was sorely disappointed; the symphony was judged very harshly and was not approved for performance... The professors' authority was so great that Pyotr Ilyich bowed down before them and took the symphony to Moscow with the intention of revising it" [7] . On 8/20 November 1866 Tchaikovsky wrote to Anatoly Tchaikovsky : "The overture for Dagmara is completely finished [...] I'm now busy revising my symphony..." [8] . Although it was reworked to make it "fit for inclusion in the programme of a symphony concert", the Saint Petersburg professors approved only the Adagio and Scherzo.

Both movements were given trial performances, before the whole Symphony was heard for the first time in Moscow on 3/15 February 1868 There is disagreement among scholars as to whether the version performed in February 1868 constitutes a "second version" of the Symphony, or whether it was simply the final stage of a compositional process begun in March 1866. Nevertheless, Tchaikovsky remained dissatisfied, and subsequently revised the work in 1874 to produce the final definitive version of the Symphony. Revised Version (1874) During the spring of 1874 revised the Symphony for its publication by Pyotr Jurgenson . Thematic notes for this version are contained in one of the composer's sketchbooks, between sketches for the String Quartet No. 2 , completed in January 1874, and the opera Vakula the Smith , which suggest this task was carried out sometime during the first half of 1874. For this version he wrote a new second subject for the first movement, and made some cuts and minor changes to the remaining movements [9] .

These changes were inserted into a manuscript score of the 1866-68 version of the Symphony. Tchaikovsky gave a detailed account of his reworking of his First Symphony, and publication of the full score, in a letter to Pyotr Jurgenson of 15 April 1886: It was written in 1866. For its performance I made some changes to it on the advice of Nikolay Grigoryevich , in which form it was performed in 1868. But then I decided to make some fundamental revisions to it. However, I did not carry out this intention until 1874. In 1875, on my birthday, you surprised me by presenting me with a printed copy of the full score. I was touched by your kindness, but very displeased with the numerous errors which spoiled the edition. But mistakes aside, the symphony was printed correctly, i.e. with changes to the theme that I made in 1874. Then it was not played until 1883. Before the performance, Albrecht sent the full score to me at Kamenka .

I noticed many mistakes, and during rehearsals Erdmannsdörfer found many more, but everything was performed correctly. Then you wanted to publish a new piano arrangement of the symphony, and commissioned Langer to do it, which was a bad idea. He made this with Kashkin 's help, and I checked it (during rehearsals for Mazepa , i.e. at the end of '83 and beginning of '84). What has happened to all these?: i.e. the full score with my corrections, and Erdmannsdörfer 's on the parts, used for rehearsals, and the piano arrangement—they all seem to have disappeared without trace. Now, a month or so ago, you asked where were the revisions I'd made to the First Symphony? I explained to you that there were no revisions, and that there were only corrections to the score printed in 1875, made by myself and Erdmannsdörfer . Now what do I find? You've sent Ivanov the First Symphony with insertions here and there, which I removed during my fundamental revision in 1874; i.e. all the rubbish I threw out, you have now painstakingly restored [10] .

Where did you get these discarded passages? Who's trying to annoy me? And why did you send the parts for the later version, thus contradicting the full score which had the symphony in its original form...? And so, to clear up once and for all the state of affairs regarding my long-suffering symphony, I say again: 1) The full score of my symphony as it stands contains countless errors. 2) There should be the parts used by Erdmannsdörfer for the performance of the symphony in 1883. I don't know where they are, but they don't appear to be the ones you've now sent to Ivanov . 3) The [piano] arrangement was made very badly, and printed with dozens of careless mistakes. All these were corrected in 1883 and '84, but I don't know where the proofs are now. 4) The handwritten sheets, enclosed with the proofs you sent to Ivanov , quite outrageously contain everything I threw out in 1874, and which, for reasons incomprehensible to me, you saw fit to restore [11] .

In spite of the difficulties which beset this Symphony, it always remained one of Tchaikovsky's favourite works. In the aforementioned letter to Pyotr Jurgenson of 15/27 April 1886, Tchaikovsky wrote: "I like this symphony very much, and deeply regret that it's had such an unhappy existence" [12] . At the time of its performance in 1883, Tchaikovsky wrote to Karl Albrecht that: "Despite all its huge shortcomings, I still nourish a weakness for it, because it was a sin of my sweet youth" [13] , and sometime later to Nadezhda von Meck : "I don't know if you are familiar with my composition. In many respects it is very immature, although fundamentally it is still richer in content than many of my other, more mature works" [14] . Subject Tchaikovsky left no explanation as to the sub-titles he gave to the Symphony, Winter Daydreams, and to the first two movts, Daydreams of a Winter Journey and Land of Gloom, Land of Mist.

It is possible that he originally envisaged a programmatic element in the work which may not have survived into the completed version. Performances The Scherzo was first performed separately in Moscow on 10/22 December 1866, at the fifth Russian Musical Society concert, conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein , but without success, according to Modest Tchaikovsky [15] . In Saint Petersburg on 11/23 February 1867, at the ninth Russian Musical Society concert, conducted by Anton Rubinstein , both the Adagio and the Scherzo were performed. The first complete performance of the symphony took place in Moscow on 3/15 February 1868 at the eighth Russian Musical Society concert, conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein , and met with an enthusiastic reception [16] . "My symphony had great success, particularly the Andante and Scherzo" [17] .

That seems to have been the only complete performance of the original version of the Symphony, although the Adagio seems to have been played at a concert in the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow , on 16/28 March 1870, conducted by Eduard Merten. The 1874 version of the Symphony was performed for the first time on 19 November/1 December 1883 in Moscow , at the fifth Russian Musical Society concert, conducted by Max Erdmannsdörfer [18] . Other notable early performances included: Saint Petersburg , 2nd Russian symphony concert, 22 October/3 November 1886, conducted by Georgy Dyutsch New York , Carnegie Hall, Philharmonic Society concert, 26 January/7 February 1896, conducted by Anton Seidl Bournemouth, Winter Gardens, 25 September/8 October 1900, conducted by Dan Godfrey London , Queen's Hall, 14/27 August 1902, conducted by Henry Wood. Publication The full score in its 1874 version was published in 1875.

The orchestral parts were brought out by Jurgenson in 1888. An arrangement for piano duet was made by Eduard Langer [19] . When this version of the Symphony came to be performed for the first time in 1883, a number of mistakes were discovered in Jurgenson 's published score. On 17/29 October 1883, the composer complained to Karl Albrecht : "Taking the score in my hands, I was appalled by the large number of printing errors and the general form in which the volume was published. I set to work on the sizeable corrections, but I did not have time to do this properly… I have reviewed the first two movements quite thoroughly, but the remaining two only perfunctorily" (letter 2368). As well as correcting the errors in the published score, Tchaikovsky made changes to phrasing and dynamic markings, and to some of the orchestral detail. The score thus amended formed the basis for Jurgenson 's second edition of the full score that was published in 1888, along with the orchestral parts.

The full score of the Symphony was published in volume 15А of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works , edited by Semyon Bogatyrov (1957), and it included the first publication of passages from the 1866–68 version. Autographs Tchaikovsky's original autograph score has been lost, but a copyists' manuscript in which the composer marked his changes for the 1874 revision has survived, and is preserved in the Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 55). A printed edition of the score of the First Symphony (1874), containing inserted pages by a copyist restoring the altered passages from the 1868 version, is preserved in the Klin House-Museum archive [20] . A complete set of orchestral parts, with Tchaikovsky's notes and corrections, is preserved in the library of the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in Moscow (No. 433/1–97).

This seems to have been prepared in 1866 for performances of the Symphony, and incorporates the composer's revisions up to 1883. Recordings The Symphony is dedicated to Nikolay Rubinstein , virtuoso pianist and founder of the Moscow Conservatory. Related Works A significant portion of the music in Tchaikovsky's First Symphony was borrowed or re-used in other works. the introduction (bars 1–20) and coda (bars 157–168) to the second movement use a theme from the overture to The Storm (1864). the Scherzo is an orchestral transcription of the third movement from the Piano Sonata in C-sharp minor (1865), transposed down a semitone, and with a new short introduction, trio and coda. The Finale's opening (bars 1–63) and conclusion (from bar 431) were re-used in the Cantata for the Opening of the Polytechnic Exhibition (1872). In the finale of the Symphony (from bar 126), Tchaikovsky used the folksong «Я посею ли, млада-младенька».

In his memoirs, Nikolay Kashkin wrote: "At the start of his career, Tchaikovsky readily made use of folksongs, for the finale of his First Symphony he chose the song «Цвели-цветики». Unfortunately, this song had become greatly corrupted in the form in which it was well-known in the towns and cities; when Pyotr Ilyich eventually learned that it was not authentic, he was greatly embarrassed, and turned to various experts on Russian song—for example P. M. Sadovsky and A. N. Ostrovsky —who had learned many popular songs by heart; however, they only knew the town version of the song as it appeared in the symphony" [21] . The song named by Kashkin so far has not been traced, either in written records or in publications. Even so, Vasily Prokunin 's collection of 1872 — edited by Tchaikovsky as 65 Russian Folksongs — records a song «Я посею ли, млада-младенька цветиков маленько» (No. 39), which is very similar to the theme of the finale of the First Symphony.

The possibility cannot be excluded that this itself is a variant of the song «Цвели-цветики» referred to by Kashkin . Evidently the song «Распашу ли я, млада-младенька» mentioned by Taneyev , also appears to be a variant of the song used by Tchaikovsky. External Links Symphony No. 1 at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) Notes and References ↑ Bar numbers apply to the 1874 version. The movements in the 1866-68 version lasted for 786, 176, 441 and 608 bars respectively. Symphony No. 1 in G minor ("Winter… | Details | AllMusic google+ Description by Robert Cummings Tchaikovsky was extremely sensitive and self-critical, often revising well-crafted works or destroying or attempting to destroy them. Though he completed the First Symphony in August of 1866, he made a second version of it before the end of that year. Still not fully satisfied with it, he revised it once more, in 1874.

Tchaikovsky himself nicknamed the symphony "Winter Daydreams" and even gave the subtitles "Dreams Along a Wintry Wayside" to the first movement and "Land of Desolation, Land of Mists" to the second. Marked Allegro tranquillo, the opening movement does have a dreamy quality about it, despite its generally lively manner and occasionally muscular sonorities. The ensuing panel (Adagio cantabile ma non tanto) is mesmerizing in its gentleness and melodic flow, both of which invoke tranquil wintry images -- no blizzards or wind here, but lots of snow outside and glowing logs in the fireplace inside. The lovely main theme, first heard on oboe, is one of the composer's most attractive creations from his early career. In the following Scherzo (Allegro scherzando giocoso), Tchaikovsky used material from the Scherzo of his 1865 Piano Sonata in C sharp minor. The mood is subdued in this movement, but the music is upbeat, especially in the buoyant trio.

Tchaikovsky actually foreshadows the night music of Mahler near the close of this Scherzo, when the solo cello wittily takes up the main theme. The finale, marked Andante lugubre -- Allegro maestoso, has much of the winter about its glacial pacing and barren writing in the opening. The main Allegro section brings the most vigorous and colorful music in the symphony. The energetic main theme is one of the composer's most joyous creations and the orchestration throughout this movement is brilliantly realized. The first movement and the finale, as in several symphonies from the German tradition, show thematic links, and in general the work marked an auspicious beginning for a composer who would fuse Western symphonic logic with distinctively Russian subjectivity and gloom. This work was once neglected but is now performed and recorded with much greater frequency. A typical performance of the First Symphony lasts between 40 and 45 minutes. Parts/Movements Daydreams of a winter journey. Allegro tranquillo Land of gloom, land of mist. Adagio cantabile, ma non tanto Scherzo.

Allegro scherzando giocoso Tchaikovsky Symphony No 1 Winter Daydreams | Albums | Pentatone | NativeDSD Music Read more Mikhail Pletnev After his studies at the Central Special Music School, Mikhail Pletnev entered the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 1974, where he studied with Jakob Flier and Lev Vlasenko. Aged only 21, Pletnev was the Gold Medal and First Prize winner of the 1978 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition. He has since appeared as soloist with the major orchestras under conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano and Kurt Sanderling. In 1990, following the collapse of the Soviet system, Mikhail Pletnev was able to realize his dream of forming the Russian National Orchestra. Under his artistic leadership, the RNO has become known as one of the world’s leading orchestras.

Although his conducting career is primarily focused on the RNO, he also makes appearances as a guest-conductor with such prestigious orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Berliner Sinfonieorchester and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In September 1999, Pletnev was appointed the RNO’s Conductor Laureate and his collaboration with the orchestra has continued in many of its recordings and concerts. In February 2003, he conducted the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra at the Berliner Konzerthaus for the official opening of the Russian Year of Culture. Russian National Orchestra The Russian National Orchestra was founded in 1990 by pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev and is today recognized as one of the world’s top orchestras. Maintaining an active international tour schedule, the RNO appears throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas, and is a frequent visitor to major festivals such as Edinburgh, Shanghai and the BBC Proms. The orchestra presents its own RNO Grand Festival each September to open the Moscow season, and is founding orchestra of Festival del Sole , held every July in California’s Napa Valley.

RNO concerts are regularly aired on National Public Radio in the United States, the European Broadcasting Union, and Russia's Kultura channel. The orchestra's critically acclaimed discography, launched with a 1991 CD cited as the best recording of Tchaikovsky’s Pathéthiquein history, now numbers more than 80 recordings, with conductors that include Founder and Music Director Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Jurowski, Kent Nagano, Vasily Petrenko and Carlo Ponti. Read more Classical Candor: Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1 (SACD review) Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1 (SACD review) Also, Marche Slave. Mikhail Pletnev, Russian National Orchestra. PentaTone Classics PTC 5186 381. Maestro Mikhail Pletnev and his Russian National Orchestra continue their march through the Tchaikovsky symphonies, with only a few more remaining in the cycle. When they finish, PentaTone will probably gather all the recordings together in a complete box set. Who knows.

In the meantime, Pletnev has not exactly knocked me over with his eloquent but rather cautious interpretations of Symphonies Nos. 4-6. With No. 1, however, he seems more in command, more in control; either that, or his recent conservative streak better suits the music of No. 1. Russian composer Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) wrote his Symphony No. 1 in G minor "Winter Daydreams," Op. 13 in 1866 when he was only twenty-six years old. It was among his first large-scale works, and in a way it was somewhat experimental for him. Always the self-doubter, he revised it during the next two years, premiering the completed piece in 1868 and then revising it further in 1874. Although the composer would go on to produce far more dramatic things, in the First Symphony he was at his most lyrical, his most rhapsodic. Perhaps that's why Pletnev, who seems to be becoming more restrained and careful in his approach to music lately, finds himself so secure in the music.

The symphony begins with a movement subtitled "Daydreams on a Winter Journey," which the composer didn't really mean as programmatic so much as evocative. He marked it Allegro tranquillo, and most of it is peacefully lyrical, with Pletnev making the most of it by taking his time in an easygoing, highly poetic manner. We can almost feel the snowflakes swirling around us as we imagine a musical traveler moving through the snowy countryside in an open carriage. Or some such picturesque image. The second, slow movement, marked Adagio cantabile ma non tanto ("Leisurely, songlike, a little fast but not too much") Tchaikovsky subtitled "Land of Desolation, Land of Mists," and you can guess what sort of imagery that conjures up. Tchaikovsky wrote a lovely, plaintive melody for oboe that Pletnev draws out deliciously. The composer abandons subtitles for the final two movements, a Scherzo and Finale.

Pletnev elicits the best from the Scherzo, making it appropriately playful and doing a good job with the waltz tune at its core, one of the first of many such waltzes that would become a hallmark of Tchaikovsky's music. The Finale, which under Pletnev is perhaps a shade too relaxed, features variations on an old Russian folk song, making it the most "Russian" sounding part of the composition. Tchaikovsky always liked his First Symphony, something he could not bring himself to say about too much of his other work. The performance is also Pletnev's best work in his PentaTone Tchaikovsky cycle thus far. The album concludes with the Slavonic March, Op. 31 from 1876, a patriotic and triumphant affair that predates the composer's 1812 Overture by several years but bears remarkable resemblances. Here in the Slavonic March Pletnev finally lets the brakes off and goes full throttle. It's among the best, most exciting interpretations of the work you're likely to hear. Polyhymnia International recorded the performances at DZZ Studio 5, Moscow, in 2011.

The sound they obtain is smooth and warm yet remarkably lifelike, captured in both two-channel stereo and multichannel surround on a hybrid SACD. As I heard it played back through a Sony SACD unit, it appears to have less of the ambient veiling I've heard on previous recordings from this source. Although the sound stage is not especially wide and the midrange not particularly transparent, the sonics do display a good orchestral depth, a strong bass, and a solid dynamic impact, so, overall, we get a pleasingly realistic aural presentation. For whatever reason, I enjoyed the sound best in the Marche Slave, perhaps because the music itself is so vigorous. JJP The Voyevoda | opera by Tchaikovsky | Britannica.com opera by Tchaikovsky THIS IS A DIRECTORY PAGE. Britannica does not currently have an article on this topic.

Learn about this topic in these articles: Arts Quincy - Quincy Symphony Orchestra: Winter Daydreams Quincy Symphony Orchestra: Winter Daydreams Quincy Symphony Orchestra: Winter Daydreams When Location QJHS Morrison Theater, Quincy, IL The Quincy Symphony Orchestra will feature three of the area’s most talented high school musicians in the “Winter Daydreams” concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14 at Quincy Junior High School. The QSO and the young artists are under the baton of Music Director Bruce Briney. The soloists, winners of the 61st annual Young Artists Competition, are Emma Binosi, Theodore Li and Sophie Walker. The purpose of the Young Artists competition is to provide outstanding high school musicians the opportunity to perform as a concert soloist, accompanied by a symphony orchestra. Such a performance can be a springboard for a young person to choose a lifelong commitment to the arts. Miss Binosi, a student at Quincy Senior High, will perform on violin M. Bruch’s “Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor.” Mr. Li, a student at Macomb Senior High, will perform on piano Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No.

17 in G Major” and Miss Walker, a student at Macomb Senior High, will perform on viola F.A. Hoffmeister’s “Viloa Concerto in D Major.” In keeping with the young musician focus, the QSO will host the Quincy Area Youth Orchestra for the concert opener, sharing a side-by-side performance of portions of Prokofiev’s “Lieutenant Kije.” QAYO Conductor Dr. Rich Cangro will conduct the joint orchestras for this lively selection The Quincy Symphony Orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky’s rarely heard “Symphony No. 1.” The work earned the nickname “Winter Daydreams” from the first movement that the composer claimed describes "dreams of a winter journey.” When Tchaikovsky wrote his First Symphony in 1866, when he was 26 years old; but he was so self-critical that he continued to tinker with the score on and off for the next eight years. The composer's brother claimed this work cost Tchaikovsky more labor and suffering than any of his other works.

Even so, he remained fond of it, writing to his patroness Nadezhda von Meck in 1883 that "although it is in many ways very immature, yet fundamentally it has more substance and is better than any of my other more mature works." Tickets will be available at the door or may be purchased in advance from the Symphony office at 200 N. 8th, at Quincy Hy-Vee stores, or from Sturhahn Jewelers, 2801 Broadway. The cost is $18 for adults and $15 for seniors. Thanks in part to support from the Tracy Family Foundation, children 18 and under are admitted free to all QSO concerts, and are encouraged to attend. Flexi-tickets (6 tickets for $70) will be available at the concert, offering a 35% discount over adult single-admission prices. The performance is made possible in part by Music Sponsor Quincy Medical Group and by the Illinois Arts Council Agency. The Explorations season sponsors are Blessing Health System, Gardner Denver and Knapheide Manufacturing Company. © 2016 Quincy Society of Fine Arts | Quincy, IL 62301

Question: Who composed his first symphony, subtitled Winter Daydreams in 1866?
Answer: Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky